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Looking Back
Looking Back During the week of
the 13th-19th of October I returned home to Ballina to help out with the
Mission Alive Exhibition being run in the local school. I was delighted to
have the opportunity to do so as it gave me the excuse to revisit my old
National School. I studied in Scoil Phádraig B.N.S. from September 1961 or
so until June 68. I had 2 or 3 different teachers at first until Mr. Frank
Cunningham took over the class when I was in 4th class. We used all sorts
of equipment to learn, such as tape-recorders for Irish, rhyming games to
learn the tenses of verbs and we visited crannogs as well. Sometimes up to
10 or more of us packed into his Volkswagen Beetle. We ran a raffle each
Christmas where we collected old toys and games and raffled tickets all
round the school. The money raised went to The School for the Deaf and Dumb
in Cabra. Each year the neatest writer in the class wrote a letter to that
school. Usually it was Martin John Crean or Michael Sheridan. I had the
worst writing in the school.
Our Sports Days were great with the long jump high jump,
sprints and so on. There were also football leagues run in the school and
they were a lot of fun. I still remember that our team won the Junior
League. Mr. Ryan came from another class to teach us singing and Irish
folklore. I can safely say that I was taught so much in Scoil Phádraig that
it gave me a fantastic start in education and a desire to learn more.
After leaving Scoil Phádraig I
went to St. Muredach's where I did my Leaving Cert. I was lucky enough to
get a Co. Co. scholarship to university as in those days the points system
was only starting to develop. At Galway University - UCG, I studied for a
science degree. While I started with an idea of studying marine science and
going into fish farming I ended up studying geology. Leaving Galway I
worked for short periods abroad in places like Canada and Sweden. Returning
to Ireland I began to work in the mining industry but could only get work
as a miner. This job was to last me for 9 years at Tara Mines outside Navan
where we mined for zinc and lead. By 1989i had decided to move on. I went
from Tara Mines to work at Newgrange, the famous Neolithic site. By then I
had studied archaeology and history. I could also speak French and some
Italian. Within a couple o years I was asked to develop the Guide Service
and to open and run the new Visitor Centre at the Hill of Tara, also in Co.
Meath. After 5 years there I moved on to work as the Development Officer
for the Columban Fathers at Dalgan Park, where I continue to work. Presently
I teach all levels Primary, secondary and some third level classes in
Ecology and Eco-Spirituality. Really all I do is teach them how to see the
world about them properly. My next job will be something different,
hopefully something in Art ad music. I like sculpture and poetry. I hope to
publish a book of poems in two years.
Finally I would like to
encourage all the students of Scoil Phádraig to do what they enjoy most
because that is what they will do best. Never forget where you come from and
always try to leave the place you're in a little better than the way you
found it. Finally always show the world around us, the trees, plants,
insects and animals - even the humans - the respect due to it. Remember
they are all our brothers and sisters, our cousins and best of all our
friends.
With kind regards Ger. Clarke
B.Sc., M.A. Scoil Padraig 1963-1968
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